Several swim meets in Texas, in order to save time, will the swim the 200’s as “choice”. You pick to swim either fly, back, *** or IM and the heats can have different swimmers doing different strokes. When SCY Top Ten came out, I had two swims that weren’t listed. It turns out that the meet wasn’t submitted (a different issue). But in the course of my e-mails with TT, I learned that “choice” swims are not permissible for inclusion.
Are others aware of this rule? I checked the USMS Rule Book and, at a quick scan, could find nothing referring to this. I’ve never seen a meet entry that stated that 200s conducted in this manner are not TT eligible so I’m suspecting that some meet directors don’t know about it either.
Seems a bit weird. As a backstroker, I can guarantee that no advantage is gained having swimmers diving in next to you on the start or having the adjacent lane swimming fly. The swimmer is still swimming a verified time in a measured course. The only rationale I could come up with is the stroke and turn judges having difficulty keeping track of different types of swims.
Not worried about the TT times. They’re not the first, and probably not the last, that won’t get counted. And I guess you can always learn something new. I’m been racing USMS over 20 years and never knew about the “choice” event exclusion. But it would be interesting if someone could shed some light on this. I do know I won’t opt for a “choice” event again if I’m trying for a TT time.
Are "choice" events common at meets elsewhere? Any insights on this exclusion rule?
Mark, we had to declare on the entry form which stroke we'd swim. And the heats were separated by stroke as best I can remember. I really only paid attention to my own heat.
I was trying to ask what osterber said much more clearly. To be clear, I think what you were told sounds (smells?) fishy as well. Just wondering if there was a simple way to avoid this situation in the future.
"Choice" = "freestyle". You swam a freestyle time trial.
Mark, we had to declare on the entry form which stroke we'd swim. And the heats were separated by stroke as best I can remember. I really only paid attention to my own heat.
I was trying to ask what osterber said much more clearly. To be clear, I think what you were told sounds (smells?) fishy as well. Just wondering if there was a simple way to avoid this situation in the future.
"Choice" = "freestyle". You swam a freestyle time trial.
